When triple-digit temperatures hit Woodland Hills this summer, Alma Aguirre isn’t going to be thinking about her vehicle baking in the parking lot at Taft High, but the electricity generated by the solar panels covering the school’s new carport. Barbara Jones in the Daily News.

The 492-kilowatt, $3.2 million solar carport at Ventura Boulevard and Winnetka Avenue is one of the first to be completed as Los Angeles Unified moves to reduce its utility bills by harnessing the San Fernando Valley’s sunshine.

“It shades our cars, doesn’t cost any money to run and it sometimes makes enough power to give some back to the (electric) grid,” said Aguirre, plant manager at Taft.

Friends and former political consultants to Zev Yaroslavsky are betting the supervisor will announce he’s running for mayor in the next few months.

“After all the discussions I’ve had with him, I think he’s running,” said Rick Taylor, partner at Dakota Communications, who has worked with Yaroslavsky on numerous political campaigns since 1997. He also counts Yaroslavsky as a friend.

Yaroslavsky hasn’t told Taylor whether he will enter the race to succeed Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, but the consultant believes all the signs point to a run.

That feeling was seconded by Wayne Avrashow, a close friend and former staffer to Yaroslavsky.

“My feeling is that he will announce his candidacy,” said Avrashow, who handled Yaroslavsky’s 1975 City Council campaign. “It’s based on conversations I have had with him. He has never said, ‘Yes, I am running,’ but he has never said, ‘No I am not. And I think he will run.’”

Among political observers, guessing whether Yaroslavsky will run — the supervisor is termed out in 2014 — has become a sort of off-and-on again parlor game.

This week, at least, the rumors around City Hall were on again. And once again, Yaroslavsky declined to reveal his plans.

“I’m not going to get into that,” Yaroslavsky said Tuesday, asked if an announcement was imminent.

Yaroslavsky’s entry into the race would have a major effect on a field that includes City Controller Wendy Greuel, council members Eric Garcetti and Jan Perry, and radio host Kevin James. Former First Deputy Mayor Austin Beutner dropped out last month.

Now out of the race, Beutner has met with all the candidates or possible candidates in the last weeks, including Yaroslavsky. Some of the politicians requested the meetings and others were made at the request of Beutner.

But Yaroslavsky didn’t tell Beutner, who sought the meeting with the supervisor, whether he will run.

Former Mayor Richard Riordan has broken from his Republican ranks to endorse a Democrat in a local Assembly race.
Riordan announced he is supporting Democrat Edward Headington in the 38th Assembly District over Republican Scott Wilk. The district includes Granada Hills, Porter Ranch and Chatsworht and extends up to the Santa Clarita Valley.
“Edward Headington is the bridge-builder and a problem-solver in this race _ both of which we need more of in Sacramento,” Riordan said. “Edward shares my commitment to public safety and protecting our neighborhoods.”
Headington said he also has been endorsed by Councilman Mitch Englander, Englander is also a Republican.